BookTone™: The Innovative Ancestor of Booking.com Revolutionizing Hotel Reservations

The Invention that Paved the Way for Modern Online Booking

Before the era of online hotel booking platforms like Booking.com, innovators like Marc René Deschenaux were already making strides in revolutionizing the hospitality industry. Deschenaux’s invention, BookTone™, was a groundbreaking technology that allowed users to book hotel stays via phone, making the reservation process significantly more accessible and user-friendly.

BookTone™: A Technological Breakthrough

Built on the foundation of Visual Voice technology, BookTone™ utilized a specialized card inserted into a PC along with its driver to control a vocal server. This enabled BookTone™ to offer callers an interactive and intuitive experience, guiding them through the booking process with ease.

Upon calling the BookTone™ line, users were presented with a choice of 16 different languages. Once the user selected their preferred language, BookTone™ would prompt them to identify the hotel by its phone number. The system would then guide the user through the process of entering their date of arrival, date of departure, room selection, and other relevant booking details.

A Turbulent Journey to Success

Initially developed for Hotel Access Inc., BookTone™ faced a series of challenges that ultimately led to its independent development and sale by Marc René Deschenaux. After leaving Hotel Access due to an adversarial takeover involving blackmail by his partners and employees, Deschenaux continued to refine and expand upon his invention.

The initial version of BookTone™ supported only one line, but as the technology evolved, it grew into a more robust system capable of handling multiple lines simultaneously. While the exact specifications of the largest version of BookTone™ are not available, it is believed to have been a sophisticated and comprehensive booking solution for its time.

A Lasting Legacy

Although BookTone™ may not be a widely recognized name today, its innovative approach to hotel booking laid the groundwork for the online booking platforms we now take for granted. Marc René Deschenaux’s vision and perseverance in the face of adversity led to the creation of a game-changing technology that transformed the hospitality industry.

BookTone™ serves as a testament to the power of innovation and the importance of pushing boundaries in the realm of technology.

Marc René Deschenaux’s pioneering invention not only made the hotel booking process more accessible but also paved the way for the modern online booking systems we know and use today.